"Easy" (haha) stump removal?

[trader-of-some-jacks]

I recently brought down the remains of a mostly-rotted tree from my yard. It had snapped during the winter in a windstorm.

Cutting it down was pretty easy. I sawed very low to the ground just using a bow saw, then a strong friend and I were able to push the trunk over, snapping it at the cut.

What to do now with the stump? I don't want to pay a stump remover if I can avoid it. Money (probably $75) isn't the big issue; the big issue is that they'll then make a massive hole and dirt spot in my otherwise-immaculate front yard, and that spot will be a bear to get to look nice.

A few ideas I've had:

a) Flood the stump remains with water and just attack it with a hatchet or a wedge and sledge hammer.

b) Perhaps put some gasoline or charcoal lighter on it, and burn it.

c) Just let it slowly rot over years.

The roots aren't an issue. The tree had been dying for years before it snapped, and the roots are well underground. The remaining stump is maybe ten inches in diameter, and extends to a maximum of two inches above the surface of the lawn. I just want to remove it for safety reasons (don't want kids to be playing around it and fall and bang their heads, or to trip over it) and esthetics (I have a large green lawn, with this whitish-yellow "spot" on it where the stump is).

Ideas?

[Injun-ear]

Go to the Carolwrightgifts website and you can order some stuff that you pour into the stump. This stuff will dissolve it somewhat so you can just dig it out.

Injun Ear

[William W. Plummer]

In the old days we would use a brace and bit to bore 1 inch holes in the stump. These would be filled with sodium nitrate (aka "saltpeter"). Several months later, the stump could be burned out.

[Ed]

I once had a stump I wanted out and got the idea to drill holes in it and fill the holes with muriatic acid. This stuff is available at any swimming pool supply and it worked faster than the chemical stump removers found at garden centers. These methods can be slow though.

Another method I tried with success is to dig around the stump maybe 6 or 8 inches deep and cut it with a chain saw. Very fast and it worked very well. Filled in over the stump and threw a little grass seed over it an all was well. No harmful chemicals.

[Colbyt]

In an otherwise pristine front yard I would either chop it out with an axe or let it rot out.

As I posted in another thread in this group, covered with dirt and kept moist this guy should rot out in about 3 years. Maybe a small berm with annual flowers planted and well watered????

Colbyt

[SteveB]

I have taken out two big stumps. I started by putting a comealong on it and getting a bind. Then started digging. But I used a very large vacuum to remove loose soil. It helped to see where the roots were. I just dug, and when I found another root, cut it. Cutting with a chain saw doesn't do anything but ruin the saw.

It is work, but you will start to get the thing to move. If you have a good bind on it by hooking it to something solid, this will help you get it moving. If you have a 4wd truck, you can jerk on it a bit, but be careful.

Any way you look at it, there is no easy way.

Steve

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Be careful of this down the road. It may rot out and you cover it with dirt. Then a few years later, it will rot some more and you step into a deep hole. Once it does rot some it gets easier to remove though.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I'd just grind it up. Can rent a machine from rental outfit. Tony

[John‰]                      Â]

Punch or drill a bunch of holes in the side of an empty coffee can. Once it is full of holes, remove the other lid. Place this "chimney" on the stump, fill with charcoal and ignite with your favorite method.

The extreme heat of the charcoal will ignite the center of even a green stump. Keep an eye on it and be prepared for your whiney neighbors to complain about the smoke. I think it smells great, but you know how whiney neighbors are...

John

[Rudy]

Same nice yard... dug around the stump..cut it off below grade with a chainsaw. After that, backfilled the hole, put plastic sheet down and sat a large glassine type 4' high black lavarock on the stump (think IO needle) and landscaped/ptl 2X4 frame around it 5' X5' with smaller lavarock covering the rest of the plastic, then 'bonsai' type pine trees and a couple of Lo volt "spots" which shined on the rock at night. Got lots of compliments on it.

R

[Stormin Mormon]

"just cut it"... how?

[Stormin Mormon]

I've heard of boreholes, and packing in powdered milk. I don't know if that helps.

Saltpeter is potassium nitrate. Though, they are very similar in their effect.

[Stormin Mormon]

Roots usually contain dirt and sand. They dull a saw chain unbelievably fast. This, I know from experience.

It is possible to pull a stump with a sawzall and a LOT of replacement blades. This, also from experience.

[dean]

Can you put a saw blade onto and angle grinder and just hack away at it? 20 minutes and I bet you'd be below grass level.

Dean

[PrecisionMachinisT]

Next time ( if possible ) leave about 10 feet of the tree attached to the stump, and pull it over with a 4wd pickup or winch or something, uprooting the stump in the process--acts as a counter balance and if the guys are attached up ten feet gives you a tremendous mechanical advantage.

As to the use of nitrates, this always speeds the composting of woody vegetation, and also helps if you chose to burn it at a later time....if your gonna burn, then suggest add diesel to the nitrate-soaked bore-holes few days prior to torching the mess....pretty sure what you REALLY want is urea, IIRC 44-0-0, though that's probly not commonly available these days.

[nicksanspam]

I can picture this with a 55 gallon drum and a blower :-)

Nick

[ds549]

we got some maple stumps still here,but rotting , after 15 years. a

10 inch stump shouldnt be hard to deal with, weve drilled holes in em and poured in different kinds of acid , or poured nothing in at all and in about 3 years its loose enough to chop out. just try somehing and it should help. lucas

[Gideon]

Stormin,

I've never heard of the powdered milk method, but it cannot be similar to the methods using saltpeter (or any other nitrate). When allowed to soak in well over the coarse of a few months, the saltpeter basically turns the entire stump into a very low grade gunpowder. It certainly isn't going to deflagrate ("explode"), but it will burn very easily now since the smoldering wood continually heats the imbedded nitrates, which release oxygen. An application of kerosene (fuel oil) an hour of so before ignition helps tremendously.

Powdered milk cannot behave that way. The powdered milk should be used in conjunction with an application of some nitrogen source (compost, manure, any high nitrogen fertilizer). The combination of the two will greatly accelerate the decomposition process, which is fine if the homeowner can live with the resulting mushrooms that will grow off the decomposing stump and roots.

Gideon

=======

Saltpeter is potassium nitrate. Though, they are very similar in their effect.

[Bob]

The last one I removed, I dug underneath the (reversed) saddle of the roots, slid a plywood board underneath it, slid my floor jack between the plywood and the stump, and jacked it out of the ground. Jack till it starts to lean too much, re-position the jack to work more on the resisting side, add blocks as needed to get more motion.

Bob

[raven]

Your otherwise immaculate front yard had a dead and rotting tree in it. Rent a stump grinder, grid it down, then spend you effort on fixing up the lawn: stumpgrinders don't leave a hole really: it's still filled with the dirt and wood chips that were there. A bit of topsoil and a bit of new turf and you're back in business.

Everything else you're going to try will only make a bigger eyesore for longer.

John